


bleeding

by orphan_account



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: Concussions, Gen, Head Injury, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 19:52:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4718444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tybalt had turned away for one second; only a second. Then there was a scream, and suddenly Juliet was falling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bleeding

The fact that it had been an accident was wholly irrelevant. To Tybalt, only two things truly mattered; Juliet had been hurt, badly, and it was while he was supposed to be protecting her.

He hadn’t even seen the accident, and that was what bothered him the most; he should have known to be more careful, more on his guard, with how busy the marketplace was that day and how excited Juliet was to be out exploring the shops. He had turned away for no more than a few seconds, distracted by the glint of metal and the siren song of new blades calling his name from a store window. And that’s when he’d heard the scream, shrill and shocked, ringing across the square.

_"Juliet!"_

He spun on his heel and was halfway to the spot his cousin was lying before he even had the chance to realize what had happened. Where Juliet had previously been standing at the top of a set of stone steps, she now lay sprawled at the bottom; her arms were tucked under her, as if she had tried to protect herself in her descent, and she lay curled in on herself where she had fallen. Once Tybalt reached the bottom of the steps, however, his cousin had already shakily risen to her feet; and the second she turned around, all Tybalt could see was blood.

There was blood dyeing Juliet’s dress a dark red; blood streaking her collarbone, blood running down the side of her face, blood matted in her hair. There was _so much blood, everywhere;_ where on earth was it coming from?

Juliet’s eyes were wide as she seemed to realize the full extent of the damage; and then she stumbled. Tybalt caught her just as she fell forward, and by the time he realized she was unconscious she was already limp in his arms. Like a ragdoll, he thought dully, as he began to smooth her blood-drenched hair away from her face. Only too quickly did the problem become apparent.

A sizeable gash now decorated Juliet’s hairline, at least four to five centimeters in length; blood oozed out of it steadily, and Tybalt had to keep himself from swearing at the sight of it. He had always been afraid of blood when he was a child; now he could feel old fears rising in himself again, not at the blood itself, but at the sheer amount of it coming from his Juliet’s head. Juliet- bleeding, hurt, how badly he didn’t know. And he _hadn’t been paying attention._

By this point more than one person had stopped and tried to help; a crowd was quickly gathering around the site of the accident, and Tybalt gestured them back with one hand as his natural instincts took over. He may have been a warrior at heart, but he had been trained in more than that. He quickly began to mentally assess the damages, his arms gently cradling his still cousin as his mind whirred into motion; the gash wasn’t too large, but it more than likely would need to be fixed at the hospital. The sheer amount of blood was alarming, though not unusual; head injuries always bled a fair amount. Juliet was unconscious; more than likely, she had a concussion. 

Once again, Tybalt fought the urge to curse.

He shook away offers by concerned onlookers to call an ambulance as he scooped the limp Juliet up in his arms. The emergency room was just a few streets away; he knew the way Juliet felt about hospitals, and waking up inside of an ambulance would only leave her confused and terrified. With a final glance at the ground- there was a small stain of blood on the pavement, likely where Juliet’s head had connected- he took off.

Tybalt managed to make it to the hospital in less than five minutes; by that time, Juliet was already stirring in his arms. "Juliet?" he enquired, his eyes wide at the sight of his cousin beginning to return to wakefulness. "Are you okay?"

Juliet's only reply was a soft groan; no matter how many times he repeated the inquiry, the answer was the same. For Juliet’s sake, Tybalt struggled not to let his worry show on his face as he carried her through the emergency room doors.

To his relief, the hospital took precedence for Juliet the minute she arrived; however, the next few minutes repeatedly reminded him why he generally felt so much annoyance at people. Everyone bustling around, half-barking questions at him and an increasingly coherent Juliet. He didn’t like their brisk manner, the way they seemed to look at Juliet not as if she were a human being but simply a name on a chart; still, suppressing his agitation, he did his best to answer each question in a reasonably polite manner.

By this time Juliet had returned to the land of the living; her eyes were wide and her face pale as she watched the proceedings around her, gaze every once in a while hesitantly shifting to her soiled dress before quickly correcting herself. She kept mostly silent as doctors and nurses bustled in and out of the room, observing them all with dark, solemn eyes. Tybalt could tell by the clench in her fists, the tension in her jaw as she looked around the small hospital room, that she was nervous; even though he knew it was necessary, he felt a strong pang of guilt at having brought her here. She spoke little in response to the doctor’s inquiries (“How do you feel? Do you have a headache? Do you remember what happened?”), and was obliging as the nurse showed her how to hold a bandage to her head to stop the bleeding.

“You’re going to have to get staples in order to close the gash. That sounds scarier than it actually is; it hurts less than stitches. We won’t do any injections-” (At this, Juliet noticeably tensed up.) “But we will use some numbing medication that should make your head hurt a lot less. For now, just try and stop the last of the bleeding.”

While she seemed surprisingly impassive to the idea of staples in her head, Tybalt’s nerves felt frayed to the point of collapse. By the time the two of them were finally left alone by the nurse and doctor, he wondered if _he_ was going to be the one passing out in a few moments.

“Juliet,” he said, relieved at the few minutes of seeming solitude they were getting; his cousin’s gaze shifted, and Juliet’s eyes seemed to bore into him. Tybalt didn’t mind; an intense Juliet was better than an unconscious one, any day. “How do you feel?”

The corners of her mouth turned down. “Is everyone going to keep asking me that question?”

“Considering you’re bleeding and probably concussed, yes.”

Juliet sighed, shifting uncomfortably as she held the bandage to her head. “My head hurts. I feel dizzy. I also have a cut on my head that I’m going to need staples for. Honestly, Tybalt, I’m not doing so well.”

He rolled his eyes, though a trace of Juliet’s old sarcasm had him feeling more than relieved. “Well, that’s alright. We’ll have you fixed soon enough.”

“Do mother and father know yet?”

“No. I haven’t told them.” He hadn’t gotten the chance, between getting immediately escorted into a hospital room and Juliet being examined. Juliet’s frown deepened at this, and she shifted on the bed again- noticeably uneasy.

“I don’t like hospitals,” she muttered.

“I know.” Tybalt pressed his lips together; he wasn’t any more thrilled to have to bring Juliet here, knowing his cousin’s fear (fear that she’d had ever since she was a child) but they’d had no choice. “Be strong, cousin- soon enough you’ll be back home again.”

Juliet remained silent for a long moment; and then a soft laugh took Tybalt entirely by surprise. “Mother is going to have an aneurysm,” she chuckled, and then in spite of himself Tybalt was laughing as well; the two of them devolved into giggling fools in the middle of the hospital room, Juliet still covered in blood and Tybalt’s nerves frayed enough that he probably would have been sent into hysterics by those “memes” Mercutio was constantly texting him _(how the hell had he gotten his number?)._

By the time the nurse finally came back in, the both of them had settled down; Juliet’s already pale face faded to almost a paper white when she caught sight of the instrument in the nurse’s hand. Wordlessly, Tybalt reached over and took her hand; Juliet remained totally still as the medication was applied, and didn’t move even when she could hear the staple gun being cocked behind her. Tybalt himself didn’t want to watch, but he forced himself to for Juliet’s sake as one after another the metal staples were pushed in to close the gash on her head.

Juliet’s eyes were shut, but her hand repeatedly squeezed her cousin’s tighter and tighter; Tybalt didn’t miss the way her lower lip trembled, even after the nurse announced that she was all done.

It was a relief when they were left alone again. As soon as the door closed, Juliet’s arms reached out to her cousins- the very picture was almost childlike, and Tybalt didn’t hesitate to take her into his arms. Juliet whimpered against his shoulder, her body trembling, and her rocked her gently as she wept. Her dress was covered in blood, he noted absently; the light pink fabric was now stained a coppery shade, and they would probably have to throw it away. He would get Juliet a new dress, he resolved, once they were back home.

“It won’t scar,” he said quietly. “It’s in your hair, no one will even see.”

Juliet didn’t reply, only whimpered a bit more.

By the time they were finally able to leave, Tybalt couldn’t have been more relieved; the doctors gave them instructions (don’t get the staples wet for twenty four hours, rest, use ice if needed, come back in a week for the staples to be removed), and also informed them that Juliet probably had a mild concussion. Juliet seemed impassive to the news; Tybalt didn’t understand how she could be so calm. He signed the papers (thankfully, Lord Capulet had enough connections in the hospital that no one questioned his state as Juliet’s “guardian”, and insurance was bound to take care of all the costs of the little adventure), and the two of them were glad to be on their way.

As much as Juliet protested, Tybalt didn’t want her to walk all the way home when she was quite obviously dizzy; “You’re a princess,” he teased flatly as he scooped her up in his arms, easily carrying her all the way back to the Capulet mansion. Juliet seemed a bit embarrassed by his ministrations, but she was grateful; the gentle kiss she placed on his cheek by the time he set her down outside the front door was proof enough of that.

Tybalt should have known what a disaster returning home would be. In all the chaos over Juliet he hadn't prepared himself; this proved to be his gravest error.

They had hardly opened the door when they were ambushed; the nurse ran at them from one side and Lady Capulet from another, both drawn like moths to flame by the blood covering Juliet's skin and dress. The nurse's eyes were wide and panicked as she took the girl immediately into her arms; while Lady Capulet let out a shout of alarm, stopping and immediately tearing not into Juliet, but Tybalt.

The young scion felt as if he could feel his brain rattle as his aunt seized him by the shoulders, shaking him without restraint. _"What happened?"_ he could hear her snarl, but he was too busy watching the world rattle around him to answer. _"What happened?"_

"She- fell-" Tybalt finally managed to choke out, and the shaking seemed to increase in violence.

"Idiot! Fool! I tell you to watch the girl, and what do you do! You bring her home bleeding! How could you be so irresponsible? You're lucky she isn't dead! I have one daughter, Tybalt, one, and in spite of whatever you may believe it isn't easy to obtain another one!"

This entire scene was only upsetting Juliet's already shaky nerves more; she clutched her nurse's arm, urging her to _"do something, quickly."_ But the nurse was not a stupid woman; she knew better that to get in Lady Capulet's way when her legendary temper flared up. The peril in front of her- and staring poor Tybalt in the face- was all too clear, and so she made a hasty move to urge Juliet off to her rooms, under the guise of getting her "cleaned up."

But Juliet wasn't having any of it. With a single move her hand was on her mother's arm, and she was pulling the older woman away from her cousin.

"Mother, please," she whispered earnestly. "It wasn't his fault. If anyone was careless then it was me, but please don't blame Tybalt for what happened."

By some miracle, her daughter's words managed to stop Lady Capulet in her tracks. Slowly, she loosened her chokehold on the front of her nephew's shirt and turned towards Juliet. There was a moment of absolute silence as her finely manicured hand caressed her daughter's pale face, gently cupping her chin. Her expression couldn't be called warm; but it held a tenderness that wasn't often seen on the refined woman's face. Pursing her lips, she tilted Juliet's head to examine the cut; the surgical staples glinted in the room's bright lights, and she exhaled out her nose as she peered at them.

"Did Tybalt take you to the hospital?"

"Yes," Juliet replied softly. "Even though I was frightened, he stayed with me the entire time."

"Good." Lady Capulet nodded, releasing the girl's face and stepping back. "Those shouldn't scar; you're lucky. You must be more careful."

"I know, Mother. I'm sorry."

For one short moment it looked as if Lady Capulet were about to reach out to her daughter, to pull her into her arms and embrace her as she so seldom did. Yet she hesitated; instead, it was the nurse who gently took Juliet by the shoulders, and the girl leaned into her familiar comfort as she slowly led her away to get "washed up and in bed before you faint away". Tybalt watched them go with solemn eyes, gaze anxiously trailing his cousin up the winding stairwell.

"She is precious," Lady Capulet muttered, almost under her breath.

Tybalt's back stiffened; he never liked being alone with his aunt for long. Where she was distant with Juliet, at times she could be almost too affectionate with him- all because he "reminded her so much of her brother". Tybalt didn't think he resembled his father very much at all; to his chagrin, however, his aunt seemed to disagree.

His aunt’s reaction, however, took him entirely by surprise; far from what he had been expecting, she looked almost tentative as she turned to him. He tensed as she took a step forward, but she lightly brushed a strand of hair out of his face; and, reaching down, she squeezed his hand in her own, firmly and tight.

“Thank you, Tybalt,” she whispered, her red lips enunciating each word as they left her mouth like a prayer. “For taking care of my daughter. You have made the house of Capulet proud today.”

Hearing such a thing didn’t affect him, Tybalt insisted to himself, even when he could feel his chest tighten at the words and in spite of all the day’s chaos a sense of euphoria washed over him like a wave. He had done well; he had made his house proud, his family proud, and he had protected Juliet. Maybe what had happened… wasn’t even his fault after all.

He didn’t let any one of his suddenly numerous emotions show on his face, however; instead, he straightened his back and gave his aunt’s hand a tight squeeze in return, ignoring the way her sharp nails pressed into his palm. “Thank you, Aunt,” he replied in a low voice. Affected or not by her words, he knew better than to let it show.

xXx

Tybalt visited Juliet later; propped up in bed, practically buried by mountains of pillows, bowls of ice cream, stuffed animals, and books, the teenage girl made an amusing sight. A smirk danced across his lips as he leaned against the doorway. “Well, if you aren’t in paradise…”

“Oh, Tybalt!” Juliet’s face lit up when she saw him. “When father heard what happened, he went out and bought me all of these-” She gestured to the books and the stuffed animals with a proud flourish. “Aren’t they fantastic?”

“Quite. How’s your head?”

She wrinkled her nose. “It hurts, still. I doubt that’s going to go away for a while, but it’s alright. I think if you were able to watch them put those staples in my head, I can deal with the pain for a few days.”

Tybalt allowed himself to smile, sinking down into the chair next to her bed. She pressed a stuffed bear into his hands and he obligingly took it, studying its coal black eyes with fascination for a long moment. It didn’t escape him the way his cousin found this amusing; he was just glad to hear Juliet laughing again. The memory of the fear he had felt the moment he saw all that blood was still fresh in his mind, and even though his cousin no longer looked as if she’d walked straight out of a horror movie he doubted he would be forgetting that any time soon.

“What’s it’s name?” Juliet asked abruptly. Tybalt glanced up to find her studying another stuffed lamb pensively, stroking it’s face with her thumb. He tilted his head in bafflement.

“It’s name,” she repeated, as if it should be obvious. “This one,” she said as she held up the lamb, “is going to be Prunilla. What’s yours called?”

Tybalt thought for a moment before replying, “Jacobin.” Juliet grinned.

As the cousins proceeded to go about naming every single stuffed animal on Juliet’s bed, Tybalt couldn’t have been more relieved to see Juliet being so herself. Everything was okay; in spite of the fear he had felt and the chaos of that day, Juliet was fine and so was he.

Juliet tossed a stuffed cat at his head and applauded when Tybalt snatched it out of the air. The Capulet boy allowed his eyes to close for a few seconds. No matter how terrifying it may have been, everything- most importantly Juliet- was alright, and that was what truly counted.

**Author's Note:**

> If any of this seems incoherent, it's because I am writing this with a concussion. Guess who actually managed to crack their head open the day before the first day of school? Oh yes. Me.
> 
> So, of course, being who I am, I decided to inflict my pain of my favorite characters. Because why not? Also, I didn't have a Tybalt to care for me when I rammed my head into a tree. Juliet is very lucky indeed. (Also, yeah, I did ram my head into a tree. No, I don't want to talk about it.)
> 
> As an aside- I may not be posting as frequently now, because school has started again! This leaves me with little time to write, so even though I'll try my best to make time, probably no more "one story a day". Thank you to all my loyal readers!


End file.
